Daisies of the Galaxy
by thejennamonster
Summary: Takes place between the eps Sacrifice part 2 and A Family Affair. Mourning the loss of Gabrielle, Joxer saves the life of a girl who's pain mirrors his own.
1. Part 1

Author's Note: So this is my first Xena story. Most likely it will be my Only Xena story. I was never planning on writing fanfiction again, specially with a fandom I'm really not all that familiar with, but it's too insistent of an idea for me to ignore. This all takes place between the episodes "Sacrifice part 2" and "A Family Affair". As far as I know, in cannon they never say exactly how long there is between those two episodes. Joxer makes a comment about daisies "now" being in bloom, which means, I guess, they weren't before, and Gabrielle says that she was in a hospice for "a long time", but those seem to be the only clues given, so I'm taking that liberty to stretch time out. So that's my little disclaimer, there. I've never written these characters before,(or, well, this character, as the story will focus really on Joxer and my original character, which I promise will not be a Mary Sue. Really, I don't do those), and I'm taking some creative liberty with time. If that doesn't scare you off, then, by all means, please keep reading, and let me know what you think.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. The end.

Daisies of the Galaxy.

By: Thejennamonster.

Part one: The Girl.

Her face never left his mind. That last look over her daughter's shoulder, panicked and apologetic all in one. She wasn't looking at him—for him there were no apologies, there never were—but all the same, he felt its impact. He felt its meaning. And it broke his heart. That would be the last look he ever saw on her face. That panicked, forlorn look.

He wished he could remember her smile.

She would never smile again.

That was all Joxer could think as he walked away from the small, broken temple that had been his second home for the last month. His first dwelling was an inn in a nearby town. The dinars it cost to stay there tended to add up quickly, but he'd taken to doing some odd jobs—selling the pelts of the small game that he caught for food, running errands for the local businesses, fixing roofs, painting walls, whatever he could find in order to stay close to what he thought to be her final resting place. It was far from warrior's work, but it was honest and justified in his mind. And it kept him occupied, busy, so that, instead of every thought being of her, he was left with every other thought:

"I've got to tar this roof, now. I can't believe Gabby's really gone. After this, I suppose I should see if I can sell that wolf pelt at the market. What am I going to do without her? Gods, it's hot out here. I miss her so much."

It was a small relief from his burden of grief, but a relief all the same.

When he wasn't working, he was at the temple, just sitting quietly by that glowing pit. He found it fitting, in a poetic sort of way, that she should die by falling in such a hole. It matched the one he now had in his heart. He knew that she, as a writer, would appreciate such an idea, and it made him hurt all the more knowing that he could never express such thoughts to her. He could never impress her with his poetic ideas. He would never be able to make her laugh at his less than poetic ideas. She was gone. And he was empty.

And so it had been for a full cycle of the moon. He slept little, ate less, worked hard, grieved harder, and spent every free moment at the site of her death. Because, without a body, there was no grave, and without a grave, where else would he mourn?

It was raining the day he found the girl. He had spent the last few hours at the temple and had just started back towards the town when he heard a curious sound. It was one he had heard before, but couldn't place. Human in nature, it was one of the most inhuman sounds he had ever heard. The emotion within it was both gut retching and so horrifying that it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. His first instinct was to bolt—to flee from the area, running as fast has his legs could take him. However, some part of him, some brave, stupid part of him, told him to stay. To investigate.

And so he did.

Following the sound, he came upon a small clearing in the forest. The area was dark from the storm, but in the occasional flash of lightning he could make out a small pile of stones in the middle of the clearing. A grave marker. Near the marker was a girl. Her clothes, a simple dress of a light color, and shoulder length hair were plastered to her body, the lightning glinting off of her rain soaked skin. That instinct to run was back for an instant, thinking the figure before him to be a ghost, but the more rational part of his brain kicked in, causing him to notice the raindrops bouncing off her of body, proving she was solid, whole, and real.

He finally recognized where he had heard that sound, before. It was the same one that his heart had made as he watched Gabrielle fall into that pit. It was the sound of utter pain and mourning. It was the sound of a broken heart. And it was coming from that girl.

Moving a bit closer, squinting through the rain, he could make out an object in her right hand, something that flashed and shone when the light hit it. It was a dagger. It was only then that he saw the blood. It ran in dark rivers down each of the girl's arms, which she held high in the air, her face turned up to the clouds, the dagger held loosely in one hand. Her wrists were cut. That should have been his first warning that something was horribly wrong, but still he sat, watching her, as she slowly joined her hands together, so that they clutched the knife, the blade pointing towards her body. Her wailing grew louder, the howling wind of the storm seeming to join in, matching her pitch and feeling. She frowned, her eyebrows drawing together, and then her jaw set in a stubborn line—a look that took him slightly aback as it mirrored one that he had seen so often on Gabrielle's face when she was determined.

It was the shock of that familiar expression that made him realize what was about to happen: that girl was about to use that knife on herself. From the look of her arms, she already had, but, with the angle she was holding that knife, she was about to finish what she started. She was going to kill herself. If he didn't do something, she was going to die. And it would be all his fault.

That final thought sent him into action. Just as she thrust the glinting blade downward, towards her body, he jumped from his hiding place.

"NO!"

She turned her head towards him, startled by the sound of his voice. The dagger still continued its downward arch, but, instead of meeting her chest, he glanced off of her side, slicing a large gash. She cried out in pain, dropping the knife, instinctually holding her side. Pain replaced the determination in her eyes as she looked back up at him, her expression a confused frown.

The clouds and the rain cast shadows on his face. All she could see was a man in the storm coming towards her, his arm outstretched, calling for her to stop. The pain and blood loss caused her head to swim and she collapsed as he reached her. Dropping to his knees beside her, he cradled her head into his lap, his hands searching her arms and side, trying to get a better understanding of the depth of her wounds. She winced as he touched her, but said nothing, just gazing up at his face, her eyes beginning to glaze over and cloud.

"What were you doing?" he mumbled to her, not really expecting an answer, "Why did you think that…you know there's a better way…"

Her hand reached up and touched his face, so lightly he could barely feel it. He stopped his explorations to look at her, "What…?"

"Altus?" she whispered. And then her eyes closed and she fell unconscious.

"Who? Great. Now what am I supposed to do?" Joxer muttered, squinting though the rain for some kind of hint as to where to go from here. He needed to get this mysterious girl dry and warm or else she was going to die. He couldn't just leave her here to go find help, either. He had to do something, but what?

Lightning flashed again and he saw it in the distance. On the other side of the clearing, just beyond the first line of trees was a small cottage. Muttering a small prayer of thanks to the gods, he climbed to his feet, picking the girl up with him, and made his way through the clearing to the small home. With any luck someone would be there to help. Someone who actually knew what they were doing. As much as he wanted to be a hero, this kind of stuff was generally Xena and Gabri…was not really his forte, and he knew it. Hopefully someone was home. If not, well, he'd figure that out when he got there.

Author's note: Ok, so I'm stopping there. Guess this will be a multi-parter. I had kind of already assumed it would, but I figured I would see where my muse took me first. If you like it so far, please review and let me know. Oh, and again, I swear, this isn't gonna be a Mary Sue type thing. Though there may, eventually, be a hint of romance, this will be much more of a two people finding comfort in each other type fic than a two people falling in love type fic. Just saying.

Till next time, Toodles!


	2. Part 2

Author's Note: So if you're reading this you made it past the first part and were curious as to what comes next. Hooray for you! You're now my favorite person in the room. I'm gonna make an attempt to update this at least once a week. We'll see how well that goes. Please review if you're digging this because reviews make me feel all warm and gooey inside. PS: Since starting this, I've watched the episode "Soul Possession", which talks a bit more about what happened between the two episodes I was placing this in and am thusly going to make changes to incorporate that. However, the events in that episode really won't affect much of this story and for that I say whew.

Disclaimer: I still don't own these characters. Well, ok, so I own one, but that's beside the point.

Daisies of the Galaxy

By: Thejennamonster.

Part Two: The Meeting.

There was someone in her kitchen.

That was the first thing that Thalia realized when she awoke. Someone was in her kitchen. A kind of loud, very clumsy someone from the sound of it, which caused her to cringe inwardly as she heard what sounded like one of her favorite clay mugs shatter to the ground. The muffled cursing made her realize that it was a clumsy male someone as well, causing her to think of only one person.

Altus. Her betrothed. Who else could it be? He had gotten up early to make her breakfast as he so often did and, in his haste, dropped a mug. That was the only explanation, really. She smiled at the thought. And then frowned.

Altus was dead. She had watched him pass with her own eyes. She had felt his heart stop, felt it growing fainter and quicker until there was silence and he was still. She had buried him. He was gone. There was no way he could be making her breakfast and breaking her dishes.

Unless it was a miracle. That was it. All of her praying and offerings had paid off and the gods had smiled on her and returned him. The smile returning to her face, she threw the blankets off of herself and leapt from the bed, only to crumple to the ground in pain, and, thusly, coming to both the second and third realizations of the day. The second was that her wrists and midsection were clumsily bandaged, a mottling of dried blood staining the cloth in many places. The third was that, aside from the bandages, she was quite naked.

Blushing over every inch of her body, she managed to pull herself back up onto the bed, gritting her teeth to keep from crying out as she did so. She sat there for a moment or two, catching her breath before again gritting her teeth and standing, using the wall as support. Walking slowly, she managed to make it to her wardrobe where she dug out her lightest and least complicated dress. It took her a few tries, but she finally managed to pull it over her head and then stood, leaning against the wall, panting with the pain, willing it to be gone. What had she done to herself? She strained to try and remember. Something about the rain…and a knife. And a man. There was a man in the rain. He saved her from…

Saved her from….

Another crash from the kitchen. Whoever was in there, Altus or not, he was going through her sparse collection of dishes at a miraculous rate. She had to investigate. She could worry about what had happened the night before later.

Continuing to use the wall for support, she slowly inched her way down the hall towards her kitchen. As she got closer, the low mumbling of words that she had heard from the bedroom became louder, clearer, until they became actual sentences instead of just a collection of noise.

"Great, stupid butterfingers, if that didn't wake her up, nothing will. Though it might be a good thing if she wakes up. At least then you'll know she's not…" There was a loud sigh and a pause before the monologue continued, "Just…don't think about that right now, Joxer, alright? Just do what you can to keep busy and then you'll go check on her, again. Ok? Ok."

Thalia peeked her head around the corner. A man was at her washtub, up to his elbows in soapsuds. He looked to be doing her dishes—well, the ones he wasn't breaking—and talking to himself all the while. There were a few errant suds in his dark hair where he must have rubbed his forehead with his arm. Were she not bothered by the idea of a strange man in her home, she would have laughed.

"Excuse me?"

The man turned towards her quickly, an almost guilty look on his face, a large platter in his soap covered hands.

"What are you doing here?" Thalia asked, trying her best to sound irritated and menacing while having to hold herself up on the wall to keep from crumpling to the ground in pain.

"You're awake!" the man exclaimed, something akin to relief flooding his features. That relief quickly turned into a look of concern, "Wait, you shouldn't be out of bed. You're going to tear your stitches. Here," placing the platter back into the washtub and wiping his soapy hands on his pants, leaving wet handprints where he touched, he took a step towards her, "let me help you back to your room."

Thalia quickly, instinctually, took a step backwards, gritting her teeth as the movement sent a thousand daggers down her side. She pinched her eyes closed, waiting for it to pass and then took a deep breath, "Who are you? What are you doing here?" She asked again, hoping to convey more strength in her voice than she obviously felt.

The man stopped, and then smiled a bit, breathing out a small, embarrassed chuckle, "I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself. I'm Joxer," he cleared his throat, puffing out his chest in a faux confident way that reminded Thalia of a rooster, "Joxer the Mighty," he continued in a voice an octave or two lower.

She raised one eyebrow, unimpressed, "Joxer the Mighty? Is that so?"

He waggled his eyebrows, grinning in a way that she was sure he thought was confident and seductive but looked laughably out of place on the gangly man, "Why yes, yes it is so. I'm a traveling warrior, you see, and I just happened to come upon you while you were in distress and decided that I would save you, fair damsel, from…your…uh, distress!" He finished, looking rather pleased with himself.

Thalia sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "Well thank you, uh, Joxer, I appreciate your concern for me. I'll be fine, now. You can go." She slowly started to turn away, back towards the bedroom. Her head was starting to swim, she needed to lie down.

"Wait!" the man called from behind her. She turned back. He had visibly deflated, looking a bit defeated, that worried expression coming through again, "Look, I'm sorry about all this," he apologized, speaking in his normal voice, "I didn't mean to intrude on you, but you were hurt, and I couldn't just leave you out in that storm, and I saw this house hoping that there would be someone to help, but no one was home, so I just assumed it was yours and tried to fix you up the best I could, but really I'm…I'm not so good at the healer thing, so I don't think I did a good job, but you really need to be resting and I can stick around and help out around here till you get back on your feet, cos if I just leave you here alone I'll never stop worrying about ya, and I'll never forgive myself if something happens and I could have helped you, so just…lemme stick around for a little bit? I can sleep in the barn if you want, just…I don't think you should be alone while you're…while you're healing." He gave her a bit of a pleading expression, one you normally see reserved for small puppies and children. Still, there was something else behind it. There was something he wasn't telling her, something else bothering him aside from her physical health.

Thalia rubbed at her forehead with her free hand. She was starting to sweat, even though she was almost shivering, her body uncomfortably cold. It took all of her effort to keep standing. She sighed and looked back up at the man, "You don't even know me. Why do you care what happens to me?"

Joxer, again, was taken aback at the stubborn expression on the girl's face. In reality, she and Gabrielle looked nothing alike. Where Gabrielle was fair, this girl was dark, where Gabrielle was strong, this girl looked like she would be crushed if held too tightly. They were mirror opposites and still, that determined, obstinate look made his breath catch in his throat, making it hard to swallow around the lump that formed there.

He shook himself out of it. Now wasn't the time. "You remind me of someone," he broke away from her gaze, suddenly finding the floor very interesting, "Someone I…" He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, "A friend. You remind me of a friend." He chanced to glance up at her, praying inwardly that the myriad of emotions he felt were absent from his face. He knew it was a useless mask, but it was one he was growing used to wearing.

Thalia recognized the look on the man's…on Joxer's face; the pain that filled his eyes. It was a look that she had seen very often from her own reflection. He had lost someone very close to him, someone that he loved. She was sure of it. And she reminded him of her. She remembered, a few moments before, when she had been so sure that it was Altus banging around in the kitchen. Sighing, she realized that she could be about to make a very big mistake. Inviting a strange man to stay in her home while she was in no place to defend herself wasn't the smartest thing in the world for her to do, but something told her that it was the right thing for her to do. And, at the moment, that was enough.

"Alright, Joxer, you can stick around. I could use the help around here till I get better and, to be honest, it's been a bit lonely since…it's just been a bit lonely for the past couple of weeks."

Had she the energy, there would have been no way that Thalia would have been able to keep from smiling at the joyous expression that lit up the man's face. Inwardly, she felt something lift. He was kind of like a puppy.

"Great! That's really…that's great! Thanks! I promise I won't be any trouble, I can cook…well, at least I think I can cook, Xena and Gabri—my friends for some reason I guess don't think so cos they never let me do it, but I'm good at cleaning at least, I got almost all of your dishes washed while I was waiting for you to wake up, and—"

Spots were forming in front of Thalia's eyes, the edges around her vision fading into black, the rest of it growing fuzzier with each passing second. A sharp buzzing started in her ears and she could feel the cold sweat starting to pour down her face. She tried to press herself more firmly against the wall, her fingers grasping to purchase, finding none on the almost smooth surface.

"Joxer—" she called lightly, summoning all of her strength into her voice. She needed to lie down, and she needed to do it now, but there was no way she was going to make it back to the bedroom on her own.

"—I saw there were some horses out in the field, there, earlier today. They probably need fed, so I could do that for you, too, if you told me where the feed was—"

"Joxer—" Thalia tried again, a little louder. Or at least she thought it was louder, she really couldn't tell. The buzzing was growing more insistent, the darkness in front of her eyes closing in all too quickly.

"—though I do need to head back into town and get my things from the inn. Like I said, I'll stay in the barn if you want me too, but I should get my pack and everything from back—"

"Joxer!" It took the last ounce of her strength, but finally he stopped his constant monologue and turned his head towards her.

"Huh? Oh, wait, are you—"

"Catch me?" She murmured, interrupting him as everything grew black.

The last thing she remembered was the feeling of falling, and then strong, warm arms holding her steady.

And then, nothing.

Author's note: Aaaannnndddd….that's it for part two. If you're still with me, thanks a bunch and drop a review line so that I know you're out there. The next part will probably be up within the next couple days as it's bugging me to be written already, but I have work in nine hours and therefore need to find me some sleep. Again, thanks for reading so far.


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